Evers Pushes DMV on Voter ID

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March 5, 2019

by Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director

Gov. Evers on Monday signed an executive order to make it easier for Wisconsin citizens to vote.

He did so by ordering the Department of Transportation to come up with a plan “for expanding accessibility to DOT facilities that provide citizens of Wisconsin with identification required to vote,” it said.

“Many DMV service centers have limited hours and days of operation, including some which are only open on certain days of the week or month,” the order noted.

For instance, in Sauk City in 2016, the DMV was only open on the fifth Wednesday of every month — and there were only four months that had five Wednesdays that year. So the DMV, where people go to get their driver’s license or other government-issued card that is necessary to vote, was only open four days that year.

Evers said the DOT’s new plan “may include such measures as increasing hours of availability on weekends and evenings.”

And the new plan also may explore “siting any future new or relocated service centers in areas easily accessible by public transit and by citizens with limited mobility.”

This would help poor people, persons with disabilities, and others without a car to get to the DMV more easily and get the government-issued ID they need for voting.

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is working for a real democracy that allows the common good to prevail over narrow interests. We track the money in state politics and fight for campaign finance and other democracy reforms. WDC is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and charitable contributions supporting our work are fully tax deductible when you itemize.